The PRmoment podcast with co-founder of Hope&Glory James Gordon-Macintosh

This week on the PRmoment Podcast I talk to co founder of Hope&Glory James Gordon-Macintosh.

James went to Cambridge University and has then only really had two jobs in PR - first at Fishburn Hedges, the consumer side of which morphed into 77 PR, and then he set up Hope&Glory with Jo Carr in 2011. Hope&Glory has a fee income today of approx £5.5m.

Here is a flavour of what James and I discuss:

How his first job was as a journalist writing about Brazilian debt equities! Why, from very early in his career, he always wanted to start his own PR firm How, from very early on, he planned his career to position himself to be able to set up his own firm Why James yearned for a career in consumer PR while working for then corporate PR shop Fishburn Hedges How James became MD of consumer PR firm 77 PR having never really worked in consumer PR Why James got together with Jo Carr to launch Hope&Glory Why James didn’t believe Hope&Glory was a massive risk Why confidence in yourself and your partner is critical in setting up your own firm How Hope&Glory have retained the feel and image of a fresh consumer shop in London Why successful consultancies must develop a broad range of work How James learnt the importance of getting Hope&Glory’s work talked about How does James retain his creative edge? How does Hope&Glory structure its idea creation process? Why curiosity is a vital ingredient of creativity How creativity is not a process but the delivery of creativity is How James and Jo Carr have grown Hope&Glory from £0 to a fee income of £5.5m in under 7 years Why Hope&Glory turned down more work in 2017 than they pitched for Why pitching for new business is important for PR firms Why James’ partnership with Jo Carr has been so successful Why good ideas are not channel specific Why James is more interested in good ideas than creativity. Why the current rate of change in social and digital media is not as rapid and some people would like to believe How the biggest change for consumer PR and marketing firms is the sophistication of client expectations and process Why James doesn’t worry too much about Brexit Why PR firms are gaining market share at the margins of digital and social briefs but there is not yet a trend of PR agencies successfully winning briefs that previously went to advertising agencies What are James’ 2 favourite campaigns that he’s worked on